Practice your paper folding and use basic origami skills to make some wearable art! It’s such a fun craft, perfect for birthday parties, sleepovers, or summer camp. Plus, you can paint your own colourful paper! (More details on that below!)
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a small commission which helps us run this website.
Helpful Tips:
What paper is best for making these paper bracelets?
We used regular printer paper that we coloured with liquid watercolor paint. You could also use origami paper or coloured printer paper. Basically you just need to use paper that is thin enough to fold easily. Try using wrapping paper, magazine pages, sheet music, or even old road maps!
What size wrist do these paper bracelets fit?
The tutorial above will make a bracelet that fits a wrist up to 7 inches in size. If your wrist is smaller than this, add fewer pieces of paper. If your wrist is larger than this, cut and add more pieces of paper. Wrap the bracelet around your wrist before finishing it to make sure it fits. Be sure to give yourself some wiggle room to get the bracelet over your hand!
Do I have to use 6 inch square pieces of paper?
Technically no, but we found that using 6 inch squares of paper worked well to make a bracelet the size we wanted. It also allowed us to use two different squares that were painted with different colours so our bracelet could be more colourful. You can definitely cut individual strips of paper instead of starting with a square and folding and cutting as we showed in the tutorial. You need strips of paper that are 6 inches long by 3/4 inch wide. It’s even easier to cut the strips if you have a paper cutter!
How can I make watercolor painted paper for my bracelets?
Place a piece of printer paper on a baking sheet or a plastic tablecloth. You’ll need a surface that can get water and paint on it. Use a paintbrush to spread water across the entire sheet of paper. Dilute 2 – 5 drops of liquid watercolor paint in a bit of water and paint a base layer of colour on the paper. Then add a few drops of undiluted watercolour paint onto the paper. Lift the paper or pick up the tray and move it back and forth. This will spread the bright colour around. If your tray has extra water on it, you can use a paper towel to soak up the extra water — but don’t touch the paint on the paper! Allow the saturated paper to dry overnight.
It’s so much fun to make these paper bracelets! Create one for yourself, or make a friendship bracelet for your BFF in their favourite colours.
Here’s even more DIY jewelry ideas:
Macrame Necklaces
Perler Bead Earrings
How to Make a Paracord Bracelet
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
